Reluctance to Utilize Virtual Assistance?

The results of the time management survey are up over at Home Office Warrior Virtual Assistant and although the number of respondents was low, I think its safe to say that it gives us the picture that home office entrepreneurs are a busy bunch.

I threw a couple of Virtual Assistant related questions to the survey to get a feel for how many technology savvy, work from home business people were familiar with the industry.

The results of the questions concerning virtual assistants confirm my own experience with many business owners. They’ve heard of virtual assistance, they’ve even considered hiring a virtual assistant, yet they haven’t taken that step yet. The top two reasons I  tend to hear are that good virtual assistants are expensive and they aren’t quite sure how to best use a VA for the benefit of their business.

On the cost factor, if a business owner calculates what their time is worth doing tasks that can be done by a VA, 9 times out of 10 they are going to realize that doing it themselves is costing them more.  As for those that can’t quite figure out just what they want a VA to be handling for them there are several options.  The first is of course to contact a virtual assistant for a consultation, either by phone or e-mail.  They’ll ask you questions about your schedule, what’s taking up your time and make suggestions for what they could do to help.  If you’re the type of person who prefers to have some idea of what you may be looking to outsource before speaking with a VA, there are resources available to you to help you.  So if you’re a business owner who says “I’m familiar with virtual assistance, would like to use it, but haven’t yet.”  What are you waiting for?

TMarieHilton

Tina Marie Hilton provides online technology services to forward thinking businesses. She writes on her Tips from T.Marie business blog to share insight and information with other small businesses and entrepreneurs. It also makes her feel like that certificate in creative writing isn't going to waste completely.

2 Comments

  1. Sue Canfield on September 13, 2008 at 1:25 am

    Great post. It’s great to have more information posted about the virtual assistant industry. As a virtual assistant myself, I’m working on educating solo professionals in particular about how using a virtual assistant can actually increase their productivity.

    To help get all their questions answered, they should attend a teleseminar being hosted by Organized Habits on Wednesday, September 17th at 4:00 pm (PST). It’s only $19 and each participant will receive two free reports about using a virtual assistant and blogging basics.

    You can register at http://www.organizedhabits.com



  2. Sue Canfield on September 12, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Great post. It’s great to have more information posted about the virtual assistant industry. As a virtual assistant myself, I’m working on educating solo professionals in particular about how using a virtual assistant can actually increase their productivity.

    To help get all their questions answered, they should attend a teleseminar being hosted by Organized Habits on Wednesday, September 17th at 4:00 pm (PST). It’s only $19 and each participant will receive two free reports about using a virtual assistant and blogging basics.

    You can register at http://www.organizedhabits.com



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